


Moments

by Lothlorienx



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort Sex, Comfort/Angst, Complete, Drama, F/F, Femslash, Finished, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Fluffy, Implied Sexual Content, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Smut, Multichapter, Multiple chapters, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Sexual Content, Shameless Smut, Smut, Smut and Fluff, Smutty, StarRae, raestar, romantic, romantic sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:08:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothlorienx/pseuds/Lothlorienx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was, what is, and what could have been. Starfire x Raven, the lovers that never had a chance but deserved one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Am Yours

Raven's cloak fluttered around her like soft, silent black wings as she landed in front of Starfire.

"Hello, lover," she said to her.

"Hello, Raven," Starfire whispered back. Through the darkness of the night surrounding them, Starfire saw a soft smile lighten Raven's face, and a gleam in her eyes that spoke to her.

She could only smile back, and hope that her knees would not give out with such an alluring sight in front of her. The night seemed to compliment Raven in a way that made every movement sultry and divine.

Leaning forward, Raven asked, "Have you missed me?"

"We have not been apart that long," Starfire returned calmly.

"That wasn't what I asked." Raven leaned forward even more, till her lips were only a breath away from Starfire's. Starfire glanced down at them, wanting nothing more than to kiss them. She held back though, knowing it wouldn't be long.

"I have indeed missed you," Starfire said, shifting her gave back into Raven's violet eyes.

"That is good," Raven said.

She rested her hands on Starfire's shoulders, giving them a small, gentle squeeze. Starfire blushed, despite everything. Never had she been nervous, but she could feel her skin flushing at the touch.

Whatever had come over her, she did not want it to leave. It seemed so rare and perfect, and its effect on her was lingering. Like she had stars in her eyes and in her veins.

"We are about to spend some time together," Raven told her.

Her hands slid down and across her arms, before coming to rest on her shoulder blades. Raven's eyes moved down to take in the sight of Starfire's breasts. She seemed to drink in the very sight of her.

"We are?" Starfire asked her, her voice never raising above a whisper.

Raven nodded then floated down from her perch on the balcony ledge, her feet coming down to touch the ground silently. She always moved silently, like she was someone the world was trying to keep secret.

Starfire embraced her, holding her in her arms with no intent of letting go. Hooking her fingers around the soft black fabric of Raven's cloak, she pulled it around them both, letting it envelop the two of them.

"A lot of time together," Raven said and pressed soft, small kisses to Starfire's skin, in between her words. Her lips brushed up against Starfire's skin, whispering words as they trailed along. "The entire night, in fact."

Her lips paused.

She moved her head back, drinking in the sight of Starfire once more.

Starfire looked beautiful in the moonlight, Raven thought. The way the white glow illuminated her fiery red hair, making it shine. The light catching the curves of her body, casting alluring shadows all around her. And the bright green gleam of her eyes, emphasized by the shadows that had settled partly upon her face.

Starfire brought her hand up, touching it to Raven's cheek.

"All night together?" she asked, her voice bordering on the edge of something darker.

Raven nodded.

She closed her eyes, thinking a thousand things at once, all of them seemingly passing slowly in her mind's eye. Starfire, what she wanted to do with her, and the time that they would pass together.

"I do quite like the sound of that."

Starfire looked into her lover's face, still relishing at her touch. She gave a soft stroke with her thumb and kissed her lips against Raven's, slipping her tongue past her lips and feeling the incisors of her teeth. The slightest of her moans were echoed by Raven.

When they broke the kiss, they still stared at one another.

"Raven," Starfire said, and stroked her fingers against her neck. "I…" she paused. "The night suggests things," she whispered. "That is what I have read in pages, that is."

Raven tilted her head to the side.

"Trying to seduce me all over again, aren't you?" Raven asked her. Her hands came to rest on Starfire's shoulders once more. Her lips kissed at Starfire's skin, brushing over the sensitive skin lightly.

"That is what lovers do," Starfire gasped.

She leaned her head back, and her eyes fluttered closed. She savored the feeling of each one of Raven's kisses. "Raven," she breathed out.

"Lover," Raven said back, her lips still pressed to Starfire's skin. Her eyelids flickered open and closed, trying to decide which sight was better. Starfire or the darkness?

"We have all night…"

The words fell from Starfire's lips like a prayer.

"Lover," Raven whispered to her again, and brought her cloak up around them both. A sphere of dark magic enveloped them, and they were gone from the balcony, and alone with each other.

Within a breath of an instant, Raven's spiritual powers had brought them to the rooftop. All around them expanded the dark city, the nightly colors dim and calming, complemented by the softest of nightly breezes, cool against their skin.

Starfire felt Raven's hand come to her shoulder, his fingers applying the slightest pressure, and Starfire closed her eyes to let the feeling linger deeper into herself. Raven's caressing fingers tickled at her neck, and her thumb came up to her cheek. Starfire covered it with her hand, trying to hold Raven's gentle mood to her.

Much like wind, she could never hold it in her hands. But she could feel it, be embraced by it, be soothed by it. Raven she could embrace.

Starfire loved Raven.

And what was more, the two shared a bond. A bond that not even Robin and Raven had; it was so similar, and yet different in every way. She and Raven trusted each other in a way that could have been scary, if not for the years they had spent together.

"Tell me, lover," Raven whispered to her. Her voice carried on the soft wind, and Starfire leaned her head closer into Raven's.

"Yes, what is it you desire to speak of?" She still held her hand.

"Tell me, what do you feel when I kiss you?"

Starfire thought for a moment, searching through her collected memories to find the right words to describe it. Her silence lingered on as she thought.

"Perhaps if I helped you to remember?" Raven suggested. Her voice was quiet, almost shy, but Raven wasn't shy right now. Instead, she was teasing, gentle, luring Starfire deeper and deeper into the bonded lust they both shared.

Starfire loved Raven's voice as quiet and shy, for it sounded like a melody.

Raven leaned in, capturing Starfire's lips in an almost innocent kiss. It wasn't greedy or desperate, rather unrushed and passionate. Her tongue made a move to dart out of her mouth, but Raven thought better of it. That could be saved for later; right now, it was all about the romantic gestures.

When the two finally broke off the kiss, a blush crossed Raven's face, despite herself.

"Well?" she asked her lover, "what do you feel?"

Starfire licked her lips, savoring the feeling of Raven's lips on hers, and the sweet taste of her fruity lip balm. And the press of their bodies together, the warmth and intimacy, and the arousing feeling of Raven purposely pressing her breasts up against Starfire's own.

"It felt wonderful," Starfire said.

She still thought of words to describe it.

The shadows still reached forward to Raven, cloaking her in an alluring ambiance. She had always looked somewhat mysterious.

"It felt like we were touching more than just bodies…"

Raven slid her arms around Starfire, pulling her in closer to her. She pressed her breasts up against her again. Her hands slid up and down Starfire back, occasionally slipping under the hems of her clothes. Starfire hummed in satisfaction.

"It felt like…"

She just couldn't think of it.

Raven waited patiently, letting her lover think. It was nice, to watch her. Her eyes seemed focused downward, pointed at her breasts, but not really focusing in on anything. Her teeth occasionally biting down on her lip, and her tongue darting out to lick them.

"Starfire, you're making your lips dry," Raven said.

"I am?" she wondered, her eyes drifting upward to focus on Raven's features. Her violet eyes and hair, and her pouting lips that looked so beautiful in the moonlight.

"Here," Raven said, cupping her face and kissing her again.

There was even more passion in this kiss, and blood rushed to Starfire's face and neck. She was unhappy when their lips finally parted.

Sighing, Raven said, "I've missed you so much," and leaned her head onto her shoulder.

"As have I, Raven. But you are back now, and that is all that matters to me."

Pulling her hood down of her hair, Starfire laced her fingers through the strands, giving them long and slow strokes. She breathed in her scent, strong with tea and faint fruits and the perfume of strange flowers.

All earthen flowers seemed so strange, but Raven made them feel familiar.

She could have named a few, if she tried. Raven had taught her the names of some of them.

Far off in the distance, the echo of a siren could be heard. The sound waves echoed up through the air to finally reach the two lovers' ears. Raven, her eyes having closed, opened them once more at the sound, and turned herself to face the direction.

In the dark of the night, the flashing red, blue, and white lights were dazzling to the eyes. It lit up the streets below them like lightning lights up the sky during a storm. But this duration was much longer; the shadows shifting once they had had time to form.

"My least favorite sound," Raven said to herself.

Starfire ignored it. The sirens were fading away back into the night, and it was not her concern in the least. Once the flashing lights had disappeared within the labyrinth of the sprawling city, they embraced again, not a care in the world aside from each other.

The night was theirs, and nothing in the world could take it away from them.

As their kisses transformed into a new type of passion and their hands found each others' secret spots in the dark, as their bodies heated with every breath they took, and their minds melded together into a single thought of pleasuring one another.

Yes, the night was theirs.

The next day came far too swiftly, and the rising sun was like an intruder upon the secretive world the two had created. Sharp rays of harsh sunlight burned their tired eyes; they had stayed up the entire night.

Not even the warmth of the sun was welcome to them, for heat they had created on their own. The cool nightly breezes were preferred, instead of the hot burn from the blazing blue sky. Starfire, who was usually bright and perky and loving the earthen days, disliked the sun that morning.

"Most unpleasant," she said in a sleepy voice.

Raven's hand reached out to caress her shoulder, trying to ease the irritation that was surging through the both of them.

Though it did feel unnatural, to be upset by the natural sequences of day and night following one another. Sure, Raven could have hoped for an overcast day with a sky full of dark, rainy clouds, but very rarely can you get what you want from the weather.

"Raven, my lover," Starfire said, returning the caresses to her body, "I do believe we cannot linger upon this rooftop for much longer."

That was true.

Unfortunately.

It seemed like time was being ripped away from the two of them, the fabric of material space between them shredded apart and pulled in different directions. Of course, that could just be an overreaction from their still groggy minds, and the processing of their time apart from each other.

"Why must you remind me?" Raven asked her.

Starfire didn't answer the question.

"Shall we go back to the tower now or later? For, within eventual time, we must return to our home." That much Starfire did say. Raven looked at her, watching her motion with her hands and tug at her fiery red hair. It had grown so long since she had been away.

"We can go back now," Raven said with a sigh.

Everything was just as she had left it; her room had been untouched and no one seemed to have entered it. That was a relief to her. There was a thin layer of dust to everything, though, and Raven made a mental note to clean it sometime in the future. She tossed herself down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Yup, everything's just the same," she said aloud.

She was alone in her room, so no one could hear her.

It was quiet, and the sunlight was filtering in through her window. It gave her a headache, but the dullness of the colors in her room helped to subdue it well. Stretching, she comforted herself on the bed, her eyelids half-closing as she simply waited.

Waited for it all to feel the same again.

It would, in good time. Maybe a week, if that. Maybe only in a few days. She hadn't been gone that long after all, only a single month. And she had still had contact with her friends, and she had been kept updating to pretty much everything that was going on.

But still, she had this gut feeling in her that something had changed. Just didn't know what.

It disquieted her, and she just couldn't put the thought out of her head. But she couldn't pinpoint what the feeling was either. It was there, a vague feeling of something being off, but she just couldn't guess.

Shaking her head, she decided to store her thoughts away for later.

Raven's door slid open, without a knock, and in walked the alien, still euphoric from the night before. She didn't say a word, but only crawled onto Raven's bed with her, laying down beside her. Propping her head up on one hand, she let her fingers play across Raven's stomach, making small swirling patterns.

"Good to see you, too," Raven said absent-mindedly.

"Very much it is," Starfire said in a subdued tone.

Quietly, she pressed kisses to Raven's neck. At the gentle touch, Raven's lips parted. She loved having her neck kissed, and Starfire was about to make her erratic with desire all over again. Her fingers swirled up away from her stomach and came to her breasts.

"Raven, my sweetheart," came Starfire's whispered voice, "you have completely stolen my heart."

She feathered more kisses onto Raven's skin, making her lean her head back and close her eyes, indulging in the heavenly feeling that was working its way through her veins, seeping into her skin.

"Stolen?" Raven asked, when she found her voice.

"Yes," Starfire said back to her, lifting her head and laying down next to Raven upon the bed. Her free arm came back to Raven's body, and she let it linger upon her breast. Raven glanced her eyes down upon Starfire's caressing hand, trying to feel as much as her skin as she could through the thin black fabric.

"To take a heart is truly something remarkable," Starfire continued on.

Raven cast her eyes back up to look at her eyes. The lids were half-closed, and she was looking far away, as if within a memory.

"On my planet, to have someone's heart is the greatest means of love. And you, Raven, you have truly won my heart. I do not know how, but perhaps I do not wish to. For the allure lies within the mystery."

"You're speaking like a poet," Raven told her.

"Thanks you."

Starfire's swirling fingers paused, but only for a moment. She looked back up, straight into Raven's purple eyes. The hood around her emotions was gone, for now. There was no reason to hide this. Her powers had taken on a soothing effect, and they now hummed through her body without threat.

"You have taken my heart. And now, I am yours."

The kissing began once more.


	2. Just as You Are Mine

It was a dim night, clouds masking the sky and shielding the stars from the eyes below. A gloom set upon the Earth, a strange ambiance in the air that caked their world with the strangeness of starless nights and absent suns.

Starfire looked out at the gloomy world, hints of sadness showing on her face. She didn't like such weather, for it to be so dark. But she new her lover would love this, as she always did. And she was right, as well. Raven drank in the sight, small smiles passing across her face every now and then.

She sipped her tea slowly, enjoying the gloom.

Starfire looked down at her own cup, which Raven had made especially for her. The taste wasn't exactly to her liking, but she swallowed it still, trying to make Raven feel better.

She had been a weeping mess this morning, for reasons Starfire didn't know.

And Raven wouldn't tell her anything.

That had put a knife through her heart, twisting around painfully.

She pressed the steaming mug to her lips, drinking more tea in hopes to forget their recent morning. Raven said nothing about it the whole day, once her emotions had cleared and she was once again in complete control. But the broken lamps and torn curtains were history.

Raven glanced over at Starfire, seeming to want to say something.

Starfire waited, but no words ever came.

Her eyes ghosted over her once, twice, then thrice but her eyes were always drawn back out to the world around them. The ocean that stretched on forever and ever, the multiple shades of blue dulled and muted.

"Raven," Starfire tested her words carefully. "You seem to want to say something."

"Only that I am content right now," came the immediate response.

Starfire sipped more tea, trying her best not to make any faces. The tea was herbal, of course, and piping hot. The temperature wasn't what bothered her; it was the flavor. Green tea. Even after Starfire had added teaspoons of sugar to the liquid mixture, the green tea was still as bitter as ever. How Raven could drink it straight was beyond her.

"Do you not like it?" Raven asked.

"What?"

"The tea," she said, and swiveled her head around. Innocent green eyes met her purple ones, but she knew easily enough the thought that were traveling through her head. She was an empath, after all, and Starfire's emotions had always been so strong.

For so long, that had been the reason she had avoided her as she did.

The thick texture of emotions, it could become sickening after a while.

"The tea," Raven repeated again. "I know you don't like it all that much."

"Oh—well—I," Starfire didn't really have anything to say to that.

It was the truth, after all.

"Sorry," Raven said in her usual monotone, her head turning back around to survey the dim ocean. "I'll try to make something a bit sweeter next time."

"Oh, no! This is good!" Starfire took a swig of her tea to try to prove her point, but the lie had come too late. She knew she wasn't fooling anyone, so she only sighed in defeat.

"I still do like this. What we have," Starfire made a vague gesture. "Spending time with you is very nice, and I hope that I can spend time with you more often. After that month or so we spent apart, I don't think I can be without you now for much longer…"

Her words faded into the night air.

Raven's eyes became misted over. She blinked, trying to clear them, but a small burn still itched at the back of her eyes. She rubbed them, but it still did no good. She released her own sigh, letting her eyes mist over again and them rubbed them at them with her sleeve.

"Have I upset you?"

"No," Raven said, "just got something in my eye."

"And you have my heart in yours," Starfire said, her voice taking on a dreamy quality. It was poetic, the way Starfire had kept saying she had given Raven her heart. It made Raven's own heart swell with emotion, and it had caused her to break many different things. Each time Starfire gave her sickeningly sweet smile and said her words like honey, about her heart in Raven's hands, something always was destroyed.

As of now, the nearby tree near the Tower was breaking off branches.

"I love it when I can make you do that," Starfire said, reaching out and tucking a bit of flyaway behind Raven's ear. She blushed, and looked down. More tea, that was what she needed.

"I am so happy that we have given each other our hearts," Starfire continued.

"You keep saying that. Is it a Tamaranian thing, to give someone your heart?" Raven asked, worry clouding into her voice. She sipped more tea, and watched Starfire for her reaction.

"Yes. Of course. It is the way it has always been in Tamaran. You can have all sorts of lovers, you can even have spouses and harems, but to give your heart to someone, that is the bonding of the most intense level. It is like…um…what Earthlings call….lovemates?"

Seeing Raven's face, she stuttered again.

"No. Um, heartmates?"

"Soulmates?" Raven offered, to which Starfire's face lit up.

"Yes. Soulmates," she said.

Her voice took on a softer edge, and she moved closer to Raven, pressing her body close to hers. The warmth of the tea mattered not anymore; the heat between the two of them was burning almost, and it was growing hotter still by the very seconds that passed. Even the chill winds that threatening rains and storms could not extinguish this heat, kindled between the two lovers.

"Where do you keep my heart?"

That was a question Raven was not expecting.

"Where do I keep it?" Raven repeated, trying to make sense of the question. What exactly was Starfire talking about?

"Where do you keep my heart? Do you keep it within your own, or do you keep it within your head?"

This was getting more metaphorical by the second. Raven liked it, to some extent. It reminded her of all the love poems she had read, and all the love poems that were still there to read. And all the depictions of romance found in good books, and romance found in just okay books.

"I…um," Raven stuttered. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Think? So you keep it in your head?" Starfire knitted her eyebrows together, and Raven was worried she might have upset her. "I was hoping you kept my heart with yours. After all, that is where I keep yours." Her hand lifted, and she crossed her fingers over her breast. "Right side by side with mine." Pause. "I love you."

"And I love you, too," Raven assured her.

She finished the last of the tea, and then set the empty cup down on the steps of the Titans Tower. She would collect them both later when they went back inside. If it rained, maybe the cups would collect rain water, and they could drink that.

That sounds like something straight out of a Tolkien novel, Raven thought to herself.

"You haven't really given me your heart though," Starfire thought aloud.

At her words, the two empty tea cups shattered, ceramic shards flying dangerously through the air. Since Raven was the closest to them, the sharp shards cut her most, cutting open her skin effortlessly before falling down to the ground. Raven paid no notice to them.

"Why do you say that? I've told you before how much I love you."

"You can love someone and not give them your heart." She spun, turning to look Raven straight in the face. Green eyes matched violet ones once more. "On Tamaran, to give someone your heart is the most sacred thing a person to do. To declare it, privately or publicly, it is beyond compare. To do so, the two of the lovers must have mutual trust to each other. To hide nothing, to always seek each other out, even in the worst of times. Giving someone your heart is like giving someone your soul."

As Raven listened to this, she grew more and more worried.

To put so much trust into that…

She shuddered.

Starfire continued on, speaking in terms of what sounded like ancient wedding vows. Black spares of Raven's dark powers were forming around the edges of her soul, and her hair was lifting slightly with the force of her powers. Her skin was electric with the flowing magic.

Starfire made her feel like that often.

But now, it was something completely different.

"So Raven," Starfire said, taking both of her hands into hers. Raven glanced down at their hands, up into Starfire's face, back down and back up again. "Do you give me your heart?"

Starfire was smiling wide,

but Raven hesitated.

After everything she had said, Raven didn't think she could put that much trust into someone, even if she did love them. She faltered, her words not coming to her lips, and Starfire's entire being simply dropped. Tears started forming into her eyes.

"You…" streams of water were falling down her face, "you will not give me your heart?"

Starfire looked so hurt, broken and miserable, Raven was at a loss for words. Her lips moved, trying to speak, to form anything to say that would make this scene better. But nothing came, she could sonly sit there mouthing invisible words like an idiot.

Starfire only cried harder.

Raven put her hands up, stroking them down her arms, squeezing her shoulders lightly, wiping the tears away from Starfire's face. Luckily, Starfire didn't recoil from her touch.

"Starfire, please understand. I can't really give anyone my heart." The words were finally coming to her, but they didn't sound the best. That phrase didn't seem to do any good, and mentally Raven was kicking herself. Slapping herself across the face and scolding her own mind for being like this. "Please. Starfire, if I could I would. But I can't. You know I can't."

"Please," Starfire said coldly, standing up and walking back inside the Tower. "Say no more."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The night was far colder. Winds howled outside the Tower, and rain fell free from the mountainous black clouds that built forever within the massive expanse of the sky. Even Starfire, who was usually so immune to cold, shivered underneath her covers.

She bundled up in a fetal position, blankets and sheets clutched around her, desperately trying to get warm. Deep down, Starfire thought that this coldness was unnatural; that the chill she felt now was coming from inside of her rather than from the air around her. She shivered more.

The door to her room slid open, and Raven walked in, dressed in only her loose sleeping bodysuit, and nothing else. Starfire could hear the faint sounds of her feet stepping upon the floor, making their way towards her bed. The covers were pulled away, and Raven took up residence with her bed.

Starfire didn't mind.

Even if what she had said earlier had hurt her, she still loved her.

Raven's feet were cold, but her embrace was warm. Starfire didn't resist, but instead rubbed back up against her, happy that she was here. And she let Raven know so.

"Starfire?" Raven's voice hung in the air, after a long pause of quietness.

"Yes?" she whispered back to her.

"I—I have something for you."

Starfire turned around in the bed, facing Raven, curious as to what was going to be given. In the dark of the night, she saw Raven hold out her hand. A small trinket sat within her palm, and Starfire picked it up curiously. She twirled the small gift within her fingers. Her eyes glowed bright green so that she could see the object better.

It looked like a small crystal, a gem. It was of clear glass, with a darkened center behind all of the crystalized surfaces. Starfire pulled it closer to her face, inspecting it. Orbs of bright red were in the center, forming the shape of a heart, both anatomically correct and shaped in a cartoon-like fashion. It all depended on how you spun it, looked at it from one side. Surrounding the entire center were capillaries of red, streaking out like tiny lightning bolts.

"Is this what I think it is?" Starfire asked.

"It's made from my blood," Raven said bluntly.

She waited.

Starfire did not recoil from such a morbid gift, but instead took a liking to it. A smile shone across her green-lit face, and she clasped the gem within her fist. She pushed her fist to her chest, close to her heart, and looked at Raven with her eyes still glowing.

It was the most emotional Raven had seen Starfire. Not for the fact that her emotions were showing, but because there were so many of them dancing before her eyes, each the same and in turn different from one another. Raven read them all expertly, then decided she should be feeling instead of analyzing.

"It was a spell created long ago, for this very specific reason: love. A witchcraft art, if you will. You take some of your blood, and you use your powers to form in into a heart. For by logic, that blood that you give has passed through your heart. You give a pi….you give your heart so someone."

Raven nervously licked her lips, wondering if Starfire had become suspicious of her stuttered words.

She did not.

"My blood came from here," Raven said, holding up her hand and wagging her index finger. Starfire clasped Raven's wrist in her hand, and pulled Raven's fingers to her lips, kissing them where they bled still.

"So does this mean what I think it means?" Starfire kissed Raven's fingertips once more.

"Yes," Raven said, no hesitation at all.

Starfire let out an audible sob, tears sliding freely down her face and her grin bright and wide. "Oh, Raven," she said quietly, but could not hide the joy within her voice. "You have given yourself to me. You are mine."

"Yes," Raven agreed, her voice even and subdued. "I am yours. Just as you are mine."

"You are mine," Starfire repeated to her, over and over again. She spoke so happily that it could almost make Raven grimace. "You are mine," she kept repeating, as if to confirm it to herself.

Raven slept in Starfire's bed that night, cuddling with her and waking to kiss along each other's skin before falling back asleep with their sweet dreams of love and sexual pleasure. Raven had the smallest blight on her heart though, a dark spot of immense weight, like a black hole within the universe of her soul.

She had been lying when she said that she had fully given Starfire her heart. As she was about to have said, it was only a piece of the heart. But Raven shook her head, reasoning with herself. She had given her as much of her heart as she could, and even with that Starfire had the power to destroy her, to crush her, to break her heart into a million pieces.

It was enough, it had to be enough.

She loved her still, even if she withheld.

She was hers, and she was hers in return.

It would have to be enough.

Raven woke once again during the night, hearing the still steady rain and the far off thunder echoing through the atmosphere. She leaned over and kissed Starfire, before propping herself up and looking out beyond her, out towards the gray of the ocean and night sky. Intracloud lightning lit up the heavens, and illuminated the cathedral of clouds above.

"I am yours," Raven said once again.


	3. But I Am Mine

There was a flash of bright energy, white light pouring forth as a merciless streak in the air. It was blinding, searing, painful, inches from Starfire as she flew out of the way, her hair flying behind her in a red streak and becoming singed.

She flew fast, away from the searing canon's light. She circled, flying around high within the air, hoping to be out of range from the evil minions of Slade's. With their focus diverted, she swooped down, green fire burning from her very core, and rammed into them, tearing their robotic bodies apart with crackling wires that threatened to explode.

Taking a single body within her hands, she flew high up, rotating and throwing the artificial corpse far, far out, until it transformed into a small little dot that was now somewhere descending into the sea.

Dark black energy crackled around the room, filling it with dread as the soulself of Raven emanated forth, large and screeching and terrible. With white eyes glowing and body relaxed into her meditative state, the raven surged forward, consuming the heat of the air with it and entering into the circuitry of the robots.

Their bodies exploded in a cacophony of searing red and burning orange and whooshing smoke.

Not a scream or a cry or even a mumble or whimper. They were dead from the start, and you could never kill something that was never alive. So the robots were all destroyed, with a ferocity that none of the Titans would have thought possible a few years back.

But now, with their emotions strung out and raw and bleeding away from them, their fighting style had changed. Even villains that had once given them a run for their money started to notice the change, and they started shrinking away.

Just as Raven's evil side had subdued Dr. Light, so too were the villains of Jump City fearing their newfound wrath. It had been hidden away for such a long time, and now it was there for all to witness. Protect the innocent, but fear not hurting the truly wicked.

Another scream was torn from a Titan's throat, Nightwing's throat this time. A punch had landed him hard in the stomach, just below the center of his ribs, and so he screamed as pain ran through him. His escrima sticks dropped to the ground, and he clutched at his body in a vain attempt to ebb the pain away.

Just as the assailant made its move to attack once more, Raven was there.

Using her powers, she caught hold of the escrima sticks, still sparking dangerously with electricity, and shot them forward through the air and straight through the robot's artificial chest. There was a cacophony of sounds once more, the sounds of systems failing, and gray smoke rushing into the air, and of harsh metal giving in on itself and crashing to the ground.

Raven brought the sticks back and set them within Nightwing's hands.

But still he seemed to weak to move.

"Don't worry," Raven told him, "you'll be safe."

Raven joined with Starfire once more. By the look exchanged between them, they knew what the other was thinking. It was time to end this fight. They nodded silently in their consent, binding their hands together and spinning into the center of the room.

A whirlwind of green and black and painful energy mixed with eerie darkness. It shrouded the room, and all that was left of their enemies was shattered away.

Cyborg and Beast Boy had pulled Nightwing safely away, seeming to know what they had been thinking too.

Their powers crashed and clashed together, power and danger increasingly evermore, and they could feel the effects starting to drag on their bodies. They clung to each other tighter, feeling the surge of struggle flowing through their bodies. They dared not let go, for fear of what would happen to them. Black lightning and green lightning, finally subsiding.

The two of them sank down onto the concrete floor together, leaning heavily upon one another, too tired to move or even to think. Starfire's eyes peeled open, taking in the sight of a drained Raven before her eyes slid closed in exhaustion once more. She hoped that they would not try that again anytime soon, and would not have to try that anytime soon.

"That was most painful," she said hours later, when she had finally found her voice.

She sat on the edge of her bed, almost fully naked. The short, purple skirt was still on her body, but aside from that, nothing else. Raven had asked her to remove them so that she could heal her, and upon removing her clothes the feeling of cold honey started to flow into her veins.

Nightwing had said that it was more like morphine.

He should know.

Her vision was still blurry, so she stumbled when she walked and wavered when she flew and tilted strangely when she lay.

"You have a new scar," Raven told her, and when the tips of her fingers brushed up against the newly cut open, raw skin, Starfire shuddered. Goosebumps appeared on her flesh, and a sizzling sensation ran through her veins.

But just as quickly as the burn when through her body at the touch, so too did the cold honey of Raven's healing powers. Soft and gentle and liquid-like in consistency. It felt so good to her body, her muscles and veins and spine.

Like a seamstress, Raven slid her finger down the scar upon Starfire's back and the broken skin seamed together once more, sewed up with whatever magical trick that she knew. Starfire loved her all the more.

A small, native curse fell from her lips when she felt the cooling magic pull away from her.

"How can something so destructive be so beautiful?" she whispered.

Blue magic still seeped from her hands, swirling around her fingers like thick mist, ready to heal whomever she touched. She seemed misted, but Starfire felt she knew better. This was Raven, stoic, emotionally-in-control Raven. If she hurt, she kept it away to herself.

And that was why it was so much more special that Starfire had her heart.

She hummed once more, delighted at these thoughts, and lifted her hands up to her breast. The crystalline gem Raven had given her hung from a thick cord, resting upon her chest so that it was next to her own heart. It was warm from the beating, but Starfire's blood ran cold when she felt the damages.

"No!" she gasped, utterly in despair.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked her, suddenly alert. The blue around her hands became stronger, more intense, ready to ease whatever pain Starfire was in. Leaning around, though, she could see the amulet that Starfire clasped in her palms.

The art of her blood, her heart, cracked and split open from the force of their earlier fight.

Tears were spilling down her eyes, faster than a rushing river, and her head bent down so that her lips touched her fisted hands. She kissed at them while she wept, and gave Raven her apologies. Raven didn't know what to say, or how to react. It should never have been broken. Not ever.

She thought back to the creation.

"That should never have happened," Raven whispered at last. Starfire spun around, flinging her arms around Raven and pulling her in tightly, still asking for her forgiveness for damaging her heart. Raven's mind was completely numb.

Shaking her head, she asked, "Where did I go wrong? The piece of my heart should never have been broken. I made it strong."

Starfire suddenly pulled away from her. "Piece?" she asked.

Raven's violet eyes widened, knowing she had said too much. The wrong secret to the wrong person, and she knew that she was about to suffer for it. She held her hands up, seeking Starfire out, about to spill all her secrets and explanations from her lips, but Starfire never gave her the chance.

"This is but a piece?"

The gem lay innocently in her palm, teardrops upon it.

"Starfire, just let me—"

"No!" she said, standing upright on her feet, despite the scream of protest that when through her scars. But they meant nothing now, she could feel nothing over the overwhelming powers of her emotions. Her body seemed green.

But the look of betrayal of her face…

"I asked for your full heart. Your complete trust. And you told me you had entrusted me with it. I wanted you to be mine, but you weren't. And still aren't." She looked down. "This is but a piece? Why did you lie to me?"

Raven's words were stuck in her throat.

"Why did you lie to me?" Starfire asked again, more forcefully this time. She towered over Raven, as if daring her to tell her more lies, demanding the truth from her by the sheer force of her will.

"I did not lie to you," Raven finally said. "I did give you my heart. I gave you all I had to offer. All of it." She wanted to say more, to tell her everything she had thought, but now was not the time.

First she had to win back Starfire's trust, then she could explain the complexity of it all.

"You did not. You gave me a piece! A small little piece! I knew that you were being strange when you literally gave me this, for in Tamaran we give our hearts metaphorically! That should have been my first premonition!"

More tears.

More words.

Starfire clutched her first tighter around the gem. She held onto it as if that could somehow take her back, back to the time when it was her full heart. Or that it would make it so within the future. She clutched it close to her chest once more, right over the pulse, and blood sprang onto her palm.

Surprised, she opened her palm, and saw that she had shattered it.

Raven was now in betrayal.

"You—"

She could not even speak after that. Her eyes were locked upon the broken pieces of glass that Starfire had shattered. Raven's violet eyes glanced down to the broken gem, back up to Starfire, and back down to the gem again. And then she seemed to morph into stone.

Jaw set, she rose from the bed.

With her black magic, she gathered up all the shards of glass and freed blood, and left.

"I am mine," Raven said defiantly to the mirror, but her words rang hollow. Her eyes dropped, unable to look at herself, and she released a sigh from her lungs

She was not on Azarath anymore, and she had to keep reminding herself of that. She was on Earth, with a Tamaranian, and things were different, so much different now. And amongst all the differences that she had gotten used to and come to love, it was all being ripped from her.

Surveying her room, she saw the boxes piled up, some of her possessions already stored away within the cardboard, but most of them still out where they should be. She didn't want to store them away in the cardboard boxes, for doing so would mean that she was ready to leave, disband and go her own separate way.

And she was not ready for that. Not ready at all.

The Titans disbanding was the most painful thing in her life, aside from her birthdays and the death of Azar. If her emotions were not so dangerous, she would have cried for all she had lost, and all she was losing.

Nightwing and Beast Boy were going to join the young heroes on the team they had created on their own, Cyborg was to join the Justice League, and of course those three could all stay together. Starfire had been accepted to both teams as well.

But not Raven.

As a half demon, she was kept away. She could not join her friends, and once more she had the cruelness of her existence thrown into her face.

Starfire had said no to both teams, promising to go with Raven. Wherever she went, Starfire would go. They were lovers, and friends, and Starfire didn't want Raven to go off alone once more. Now, Raven wondered if she ruined that.

That Starfire would no longer follow her, wherever she was now to go, and she would join Nightwing on his team.

Pain surged through her chest, and the tear ducts started swelling, welling up with tears that she would never shed. She was too in control of her emotions, and to cry would do no good. It would not help the situation, and it wouldn't solve the situation. What would it do besides making her feel worse about herself?

"I am mine," Raven whispered once more.

If she kept whispering this phrase to herself, she would become stronger once more. Independent, not needing anyone to be with her anymore. But she knew it wasn't true. She needed companionship, just as everyone else did. And Starfire, her lover…

Raven opened her palm once more, looking down at the shards of glass. She had been squeezing them within her hand, and now the sharp edges had cut through her skin once more, and droplets of blood coated her entire palm. She didn't care, could not even feel it.

"I am sorry," she whispered to no one.

But Starfire was on her mind as she said this.

Her palm felt far too heavy with the weight she bore upon it. She clasped her fingers tightly into a fist once more, squeezed her eyes shut to free the sheen of water upon the, and effortlessly making her way to the side of the bed. A small vase sat by her bed, with a lid on top. She dropped her broken heart into the jar, and crawled under the sheets, wanting nothing more than to sleep.

After the day she had had, and the days that were soon to come to her, this was all she could think to do.

Dark shapes played upon the ceiling, transforming before Raven's eyes and morphing into different images entirely. She watched this bizarre show, the array of patterns dancing before her burning, tired eyes that she just couldn't seem to shut. Late night turned to midnight to early, early morning as Raven lay upon her bed, doing nothing and thinking of nothing.

She had lulled herself into a trance.

Not a meditation.

She floated a foot off the bed, her eyes vacant and unseeing. Her breath was steady and slow, coming out so sparsely that you would have to wait and listen to hear that she was still breathing. Truly a perfect trance.

Not even broken when there was a knock upon her door, and then slid open as Starfire walked in without invitation. Raven could sense her, her essence of being wrapping around her body like gossamer strands of silk.

"Raven?" Starfire called out gently.

Raven breathed deep, wondering whether or not to ignore her. She didn't really decide, but only peeked an eye opened and watched her in the dark, her nocturnal eyes piercing through the thick cloak of darkness. She was dressed in her nightclothes, and looking so unsure of herself.

"Raven?" Starfire asked again, her green eyes putting out the faintest glow.

Once she had seen that Raven was watching her, she rushed forwards once more, using her power of flight to no step too loudly upon the floor. Not on the floor at all as she lifted herself up and sat gently down on the edge of the bed, still nervous as the what Raven would do.

"I am sorry," she whispered, jumping right in to what she wanted to say. "Raven. I am sorry. I am truly, so very sorry. I have never been more sorry for anything in my entire life than in this instance where I am sorry now…" she cut, realizing she was speaking in circles.

Raven, after a long moment of doing nothing more than floating within her trance, finally broke down. She sat down on the bed and straightened herself. Cold purple eyes set upon the alien, and regarded her steadily.

Raven could feel it, sense it as much as her own sense of self. Starfire was honest, and she was sorry. She regretted it, and she wanted Raven to forgive her. But the problem was, Raven did not forgive her.

"You broke my heart," was all Raven whispered.

Starfire shrunk back.

"I know that now. I realize that you are complicated—" Once more her words were cut off, and a look of mild horror decorated her features. Had she said too much? Had she said the wrong thing? These thoughts passed through her mind and swirled like a maelstrom as she waited for Raven's reaction.

"You broke my heart, literally."

Pressing her lips together, and then licking them, Starfire tried choosing her words more carefully: "I did not wish for you to give a literal heart. Only a metaphorical heart. A poetic, imaginary gesture to show the connective bond between people."

A groan escaped Starfire's lips as she realized she was speaking in circles again. She wished she were better at this language, perhaps then she would be able to say what she was trying so desperately to communicate to her. Starfire hoped with all her heart that Raven would understand her, understand what she was trying to say.

Out of everyone on the team, and perhaps out of everyone she ever knew, Raven understood her so well. If not for her ability to read people, then the empathic ability to feel them.

"Please. I am sorry, and I wish not for us to fight anymore."

Raven could only look down and shake her head sadly. Starfire choked back on her tears. She had ruined it, and the pain that it put within her body was too much for her to bear. Tears started welling up and falling down, and she put her hands to her breast to try to ease the discomfort.

"Please, Raven. I have forgiven you. I have realized the error of my ways. Please. Grant me the same courtesy."

"I need time," was all Raven said. With that, she laid back down, closing her eyes and rolling over on her side, away from Starfire. She tried going to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She knew she couldn't go back to her trance either, for the odd mental stillness was gone from her mind, filled with Starfire's words.

Starfire still sat at the edge of her bed, full of sorry and regret. And, Raven could feel, a faint sense of hope. She had said that she would need time, and Starfire hoped that meant that she would have her forgiveness in due time. She only had to wait.

"Do not wait forever," Raven said to her, still not bothering to turn around.

"I shall not," Starfire said in a mellow tone. She got up to leave, floating an inch above the ground as she made her way back to the threshold. Her emotions were thick in the room, feeling just how a throat felt as it was closing in with tears of sobs. Raven swallowed.

If a heart could be broken anymore than it already had, then it had for Raven. To see her like that.

"Starfire?" Raven called out, almost shyly.

Starfire spun around to meet her stare. "Yes?" she replied, curious as to what Raven would say next.

Taking a small breath, Raven told her, "You're very lucky to be in love." Without another word, she lay back down onto her bed, leaving Starfire floating within the empty space between her and the door.

"I am indeed," Starfire whispered, and spun back around.

Raven watched her leave. With another sigh, she focused her eyes into the outside world, wishing to feel the fresh night air upon her skin. But she wished not to be alone.

"I just need time," were the words whispered into the pillow.


	4. Just as You are Yours

The sky was full of stars, and yet it still felt so empty.

Starfire sat at the edge of the tower, gazing forever upwards at them, wishing to fly away to those distant orbs of burning plasma, circling them on and on until she forgot about the mistakes she had made. She clutched her knees to her chest and sighed out, still thinking these thoughts.

A cool wind was blowing from the West and carrying East.

The breeze felt good against her skin, still burning hot. Fiery red hair flowed on the wind, and her green eyes vacant to the world. She had eyes only for the stars tonight. Or so she thought.

"Raven," she whispered, longing in her voice. She closed her eyes and let the memory flow over her, the words they spoke, and the look on her face when the gem was crushed within her fist. Her hand was still cut open and sore, though the blood had finally clotted.

"Rough night?" a voice said behind her.

Steps against the metal and concrete. A voice too deep. "Hello, Nightwing," Starfire said glumly.

He walked up behind her, still in his black and blue uniform, but his mask was pushed up into his hair. Unusual for him, but things were very unusual nowadays.

Soon they would all be parted.

Starfire hated that though more than anything else on Earth. No; more than anything else within the universe. Of all the things that had crushed her, stripped her emotions raw, that was what would get her in the end.

Nightwing sat down beside her, legs hanging off the side of the tall tower, and he cast his blue eyes up to the night sky with her. There was no moon, so it was only the stars that shone. Far, high up in the empty sky where the stark city lights could't reach them and dim them

It was truly a beautiful sight.

Nightwing was going to miss this. Pulling his eyes away from the distant stars, he looked back at his teammate. He couldn't even imagine the sorrow and pain that she must have been feeling. He had known what happened between the two lovers…well, he didn't know everything. But he knew enough.

Love could hurt; that he knew.

"Can you name any constellations?" Nightwing asked her, almost shyly.

Starfire opened her eyes once more. She studied the stars, trying to pick out the celestial patterns. Raven had spent many times talking to her about star charts, and how to calculate the sky. All the names of every single star she seemed to know.

It had been beautiful, the way she talked about something she was so passionate about. Starfire regretted not really having listened to her. She would always focus in on her face, and old Tamaranian love poem on repeat in her head.

"Is that Gemini?" Starfire asked, pointing upwards.

"Uhm…" Nightwing thought. "I don't think it is."

"Oh." She cast her head down, slumping her shoulders.

"But, uhm, I think that might be Gemini?" He suggested, pointing a little to the right at the neighboring group of stars. It was lame, even to his ears, but he really didn't know what else to do. Beating around the bush seemed to be his specialty, and unlike Starfire and Raven, the connection to his emotions was never important.

He had never really learned how to feel whatever it was he was feeling.

"Let's cut to the chase," he said at last.

"What?" Starfire asked, the phrase offsetting her. All her years on Earth, she still couldn't understand the damned idioms. And there were so many of them.

"Let us talk about what's on our minds," Nightwing tried again, offering a wry smile that didn't really reach up to his eyes. Starfire only looked blankly back at him; she would never fake her joy. Not for anyone.

"I know you and Raven had a fight."

Starfire spun her head away. Now she focused in on the ocean, deep and dark and infinitely vast. Small waves crested, the city lights catching on the lips, and the whole sea churned in its calm, soothing way. She could even catch the ghosts of starlight upon the water.

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it…but talking can help. Or so I hear." Leave it to him to suggest talking about feelings.

Ironic, he thought.

"Yes. I do believe that is what you are supposed to do. Talking about my feelings has always worked out in the past; it is what I was taught to do when things were getting chaotic within." Starfire's voice edged onto a monotone. Nightwing wanted to reach out his hand and set it gently on her shoulder, to offer her some kind of comfort.

"You wish to hear about them?" Even in monotone, Nightwing could tell that she was surprised.

Once again he gave a faint smile. "Of course. Whatever will make you feel better. I can't have my teammates upset like this. It isn't good."

"We won't be teammates for much longer," she said, choking up.

Nightwing's entire body slouched at the reminder. "Yeah, I know that. But there's still plenty of time before we disband. You know what Batman said: the Titans get to stay together for as long as possible until the point where Slade is caught. And he hasn't been caught so far."

They both paused, listening to the quiet.

"I never thought that I would want Slade to escape. I used to want to hunt him down and lock him up, now I want him to walk the streets." He shook his head and sighed.

"I feel similar," Starfire replied. She licked her lips, ready to launch into their inevitable conversation. She watched his face closely, waiting to see if he would listen. He gave all the signs of someone listening, she judged by his body language. Once having placed confidence in him, she began:

"Raven gave me a half of her heart, and I broke it."

A simple enough statement.

"I'm not sure I understand," he replied.

She took another deep breath. Releasing her knees, she dangled her feet off the side of the building. It would have been dangerously too close for a human, but she could fly endlessly on. She hoped. The way her feelings were now, she might not be able to. That thought chilled her to the very core.

Still, she did not draw back.

"I gave Raven my heart, and I wanted hers in return. She said that she gave it to me, but it was only a piece. And in my anger I broke it." She pressed her hands to her breast for emphasis. The pendant no longer hung near her heart, and she wanted so badly to feel it there once more.

"I have done wrong."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Starfire." Her head snapped around, and tears were welling in her eyes. Nightwing cringed, feeling he had said the wrong thing. "Not that it was a mistake. I mean—uh—every relationship has rough patches."

Another awkward pause.

"What, um? What made you and Raven get together in the first place?"

Her features softened, and a small smile tugged at her lips. She looked back out at the emptiness or the horizon, the memories playing in her head serenely. "I do so like that story."

She began:

"It was after I had seen my sister for the last time. Blackfire had always done so much harm in my family. She sold me, and my brother, and my parents into slavery. Tried, with me that is so. But still I tried to love her. And then her vileness kept coming back to torment me, and each time I felt my love for her dwindling. It is a terrible feeling, to realize that you don't really love someone, especially if they are family. Blackfire and I grew up together, and then…"

She sobbed and wiped at her tears.

"I had to let her go. She had to leave, from my life. Permanently. So I denounced her. Blackfire is no longer my sister. And Raven, she was there for me. After what had happened with Blackfire, I went into a dark place in my life, and Raven was in that dark place, too. Waiting for me, and we embraced, and we stayed together ever since."

She smiled so wide that her teeth showed. Still the tears flooded out from her, flowing down her cheeks like streams.

"We found each other in that place, and we stayed together. Dark or light and happy and sad, I walked with her through it all. She stole my heart."

Nightwing nodded.

"What a beautiful story," he whispered. Even so, he still wasn't sure what to make of it all. So poetic, but he just couldn't understand it the way she could. Love in the darkness, a heart to be given and taken. He had never liked that kind of stuff, even in the mushiest of romances.

But Starfire had made it sound so beautiful.

"Do you regret it?"

"Regret what exactly? You must be more specific," she replied to him.

"I mean, loving her. Dating her and giving her your heart and all that."

Starfire shook her head, no.

"Of course not. Raven can have my heart bleeding and broken within her hands and I would still want her to keep it. I love her, and and I trust her. I will never leave her. Even when the Titans disband, and we all have to find a new place for ourselves on Earth, and will accompany her, wherever she may go."

She paused, and moved closer into Nightwing.

"She still doesn't know where to go, after all this is over."

"Another reason to never catch Slade." He gave a dry chuckle that scratched at his throat. "I'm not even trying to catch him, you know? I think he might be losing interest, since we're not as much of a challenge. Not as much fun to play with." He sounded hopeful.

Another one of his dry chuckles scratched at the air.

They turned their eyes back up to the sky, watching each of the stars without saying a word, but simply enjoying the empty quiet between the two of them. It was nice, for it to be so quiet. It was rarely like that, what with their dangerous jobs and all that it demanded of them.

Bruises and broken bones and fresh scars.

Starfire had a new scar, one that stretched along her back. It was still healing, but Raven hadn't taken away the obvious knitting of the skin that made it stand out stark against the rest of the flawless, unharmed skin.

Right! Raven! Nightwing remembered suddenly.

"So um," he said after the longest of pauses. "Tell me more about you and Raven."

"Well, I do so love her."

Nightwing nodded, bidding her to continue.

"Even if she can be difficult, and stubborn, and complicated. And have trouble with the giving of the hearts, I still love her. But I see it now; I understood it the moment that the glass shattered in my hand. The reason she gave me only a piece of her heart was because there was only a piece left within her."

Why not just stab a knife into my chest?

"What do you…she only has a piece left?"

"I have told you. Raven is the most complicated. I cannot understand her, however, I don't need to."

It was so cold, and it was so sweet. The night air and sea breezes, calming to the skin and mind. And the cold stars shining down on them from millions of miles away, reaching them with their faint glow. Not a cloud in sight, though it was particularly dark.

Closing her eyes to the peace, Starfire tilted her head back and breathed deep the fresh air, cleansing her lungs. And in turn her blood.

"If you could say anything to Raven, at this moment right now, what would you say?"

She lay flat on her back, hands resting on her stomach, her hair splayed out around her like spilled crimson. Bubbling from within her came the green glow, as her eyes regained their luminosity, and her skin glowed with brilliance once more.

"I would tell her that she is truly my heart mate. My Raven…"

Her voice drifted off.

Time drifted on.

"It's kinda cold out here," Nightwing said, and lifted himself to his feet. "I'm glad we had this talk. I enjoyed spending time with you." Without another word, he strode back over to the entrance of the tower.

Clinging to the wall, hidden away on the stairs, Raven stood, leaning up against the flat surface. She had been listening to intently, and the look on her face.

"Aren't you glad I told you to wait here?" he asked her with a wink.

Raven nodded as he bounded down the stairs. She stood there for a long time, leaning against the wall, waiting for her mind to make up what her next move would be. Going back down the steps and back into the warmth of the Tower was the most appealing option to her, but still her feet would not move, not obey her. So she stayed there.

Hesitantly, she edged closer to the threshold, and peeked out to look at her lover. She still lay on her back, unseeing, her eyes empty to the empty sky above her, and the concrete below her. She slouched her shoulders. "Oh, Starfire," she mumbled to herself.

A look was all she needed, for she was able to walk back down the stairs by herself. Thoughts filled her mind; time was of the essence. Raven needed time, as much time as she could afford. And Starfire needed her space as well.

Starfire may have proclaimed to be Raven's, in every way possible, but Raven knew that love was not about possession. Nor was it about obsession. And still she loved her anyway.

Raven spun her cloak out, and let the darkness consume her.

The sunrise came all too quickly, with the eastern sky being painted a streaky, hazy orange. Starfire had spent the entire night on the roof, facing up at the sky. No one in the Tower had slept at all that night, each for reasons of their own.

Raven had rolled out of bed early, creeping into the kitchen while the light of predawn filtered in through the thick panes of glass. Absent-mindedly, she set to making herbal tea, not even having to think about what came next, for the motions were so deeply instilled in her. This morning, she brewed black tea, sweetening it with a small teaspoon of honey.

Eyes blurring, mind still in a haze, her feet clumsy, she set to work on making another cup of black tea. Instead of honey, this time, she sweetened it with a teaspoon of mustard.

Summoning her powers around her, the dark energy consumed her and transported her up to the concrete roof of the Tower, where Starfire was awake and watching the sunrise, her head propped up on her hands.

She didn't hear Raven approaching her.

Not until the cup of streaming tea was held out right next to her did Starfire know she was there.

"Raven," she said sleepily. "Is this to be meant for me?"

Raven nodded, and Starfire took the cup from her. "The mustard is very good," she mumbled, still in a daze. Raven sat down beside her on the roof, quiet as a mouse. Her eyelids felt heavy to her, and it burned whenever she blinked.

"Do you still need time to heal?" came Starfire's question, said only after a long pause.

"Yes," Raven said in her usual monotone. "I still need time."

"I am trying to understand you. I really am. I know you are complicated and—"

"And am missing a piece of my heart?" Raven finished for her. As soon as the words left her mouth, she grimaced, biting on her tongue and clenching in agony. Oh great, was all she thought.

"No, no! I only broke it—which I regret—and am deeply sorry for—but I did not lose it. You took it back within your safe keeping after I—um…" She trailed off.

Raven realized she didn't understand just what she meant.

"Oh. I suppose that it is missing. From your being, that is." Starfire spoke slowly, quietly, sipping the mustard and black tea occasionally. It was warm in her hands, thawing out her fingers. After taking another large gulp from the cup, she looked back over to her.

"This is what you usually offer when you wish to mend our relationship." Her green eyes started sparkling. A blossom of hope bloomed within her heart.

"I told you I still need time," Raven whispered. "And so do you. We both need time." She stood up, ready to leave the roof once more.

"I do not need more time! I do not wish to fight with you!" Starfire jumped to her feet, too, striding after her and placing her hand upon her shoulder. Her alien strength kept Raven from leaving, and her words kept her listening, despite herself.

"So many things can come between us, and so much harm can happen. Please do not let our disagreements be one of those things. You keep saying that you need time. Well, how much time?"

Raven thought.

"How much time?" Starfire asked again.

A though entered Raven's mind, one that she was ashamed of. Itching its way forward to the front of her brain, Raven thought that Starfire seemed almost annoying. Needy and clingy. Tears sprung to her eyes as she tried to push those emotions away, only to feel the crackle of black magic in her hair.

When Starfire walked in front of her, she couldn't even look at her.

Why did I have to think that? she asked herself.

Starfire asked her again, "How much time do you need? Please, Raven, answer me." And once again those same words came to her mind again. She slapped a hand to her head, as if that would clear it.

"Two weeks," she blurted out, not actually knowing if that was correct.

Starfire gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. Raising her eyes to meet Starfire's, she saw a look of utter devastation on her face. Raven was thinking of something more to say, something that sounded better than that, but Starfire spoke.

"Two weeks! But that cannot be! Within two weeks, Slade might already be caught, and then we will have disbanded, and all that time apart will have driven us mad, Raven! Two weeks! Raven, I cannot bear the thought of whole two weeks in this kind of emotion!"

She sobbed, "Damn you, Slade."

Raven had not been expecting her to say that.

"So Slade's capture will be the end of us?" Raven's mouth suddenly felt dry.

Raven could only stand there in front of her, tears flowing down her own face. She wanted so badly to embrace Starfire, to take her into her arms and whisper into her ear that she loved her.

"Raven," Starfire said, and closed the gap between them, hugging Raven like she had wished. "I do not wish to fight with you so!"

"You didn't answer the question."

"Hm?" Starfire hummed. She only hugged Raven tighter, pushing her head against her neck and breathing in her scent.

"Slade's capture will be the end of us?"

"No! That is not true!" Starfire was yelling through her tears. "Please do not ever think that."

They stayed like that for a long time, wrapped in each other's arms and not letting go even for a moment. The sun was streaking up into the sky, hazy with the thick gray clouds that randomly spotted the sky.

Neither of them wanted that moment to end. Everything seemed so still and calm, like the only thing within the world was just the two of them. Raven rested her head up against Starfire's chest, listening to the steady beating of her heart, her even, slow breaths. Her skin soft and warm and her scent working its way into her subconscious.

Never could she let this go.

"I forgive you, Starfire."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Red lights were flashing silently in warning, and the monitors were alight with an eerie glow that penetrated the dark. Night had fallen once more, and Nightwing was asleep at the controllers, having finally drained himself of all energy. His head lay upon the numerous keys, and not even the sound of the mechanical door sliding open could wake in.

In they crept, not making a sound.

Eyes scanned the multiple monitors and flashing lights and rows upon rows of documents that were barely illuminated under the nearly burnt-out desk lamp. Swiftly, deftly, the fingers tracked through the files, and the pages, and located the ones they needed. Collecting them, they wadded up the papers and stored them away, then moved onto the files at the computer.

Working fast, quietly, the fingers typed away at the keys until the screen showed the deletion process, undergoing slowly. They waited, their heart pounding in their chest. The small little bar moved across the screen at a snail's pace, until finally it reached the ended. The computer made a small crumpling sound to signify that the files were truly gone.

The eyes flashed back to the sleeping Nightwing, worried that they had woken him.

But he never stirred.

With a quick sweep of the room, they made sure all was right. The glowing room was all set and working properly, and nothing had been disturbed. Even what had been taken was perfect within the room. They checked the maps and the histories and the radars and monitors and security cameras, laser fields and heat sensors and motions sensors and the hacking of the city cameras on the stoplights. More and more, they shuffled through the entire room.

Everything was in place. Perfect.

Like nothing had been taken.

Turning, they quietly snuck out of the room, an overwhelming feeling of success and relief flooding through their body. In their hand, they opened up the file marked SLADE and scanned their eyes over the file. All the information they had ever had about him was there, printed in a size twelve times new roman font.

All the computer files and backup monitor files of his current locations had been erased.

And the paper copies of him? They were all tossed into a fire and burned away. Only the ashes of the papers were left.


	5. Even If We Are Not Perfect

Raven's breath escaped in a sigh and her back arched up, tilting her head back for more air to enter her. Escaped at first as a sigh, small moans started ticking the back of her throat, released quietly in the air as she rolled her hips, again and again, against Starfire's.

Soft Tamaranian words left her red, swollen lips, and her hands were everywhere. Wherever she could touch, she laid her hands, letting them roam all over Raven's body as the two sought out their pleasure.

"Raven," Starfire gasped as she felt her fingers slip between her once more. "Oh, Raven. Ryuionat." Raven's free hand came to the back of her head, and she pulled her down onto her, locking their lips together in a heated kiss.

Raven could feel the thickness of their emotions in the air, rubbing up against their naked skin, driving them further to ecstasy. She didn't care how much pressure it was putting on her to feel such intense emotions; right now, that was what she wanted.

Starfire's hand came to her breasts, stroking and toying and playing with them.

Their hips rolled again as Starfire shifted them both, wrapping her arms around Raven's waist and spinning them both over, so that now Raven was on top.

She looked down at Starfire, taking in the sight of her red hair spilled across her pillow and her eyes aglow, small beads of sweat near her hairline and a delicate blush all over her body. Raven stroked her fingers across Starfire's cheek, and Starfire kissed at them. Using her alien strength once more, she pulled Raven's body down onto hers, crushing them together.

Raven moaned out at the force.

"Star—"

The word escaped her lips before she knew she spoke.

Within the tangle of the sheets, and the tangle of their legs, they moved, kicking out against each other until Starfire was straddling a single leg of Raven's. She ground her hips up against Raven's heat, desperately as the two kept searching for their release.

Hearts pounding, voices calling, and fingers reaching, the entire night passed like that. Starfire's hair had mixed into the most beautiful mess, and Raven entwined her fingers into the red strands. When she flipped her over once more, she leaned back, enjoying Starfire's body over hers. She ran her hands up and down her strong arms, kissing her with such passion that she swore she could feel their blood tingle together.

Sometime during the night, in the heat and confusion of their love making, Raven's eyes wandered to the small container that sat upon her nightstand, still untouched from the last time she had thrown the glass inside of it. Vaguely, the thought passed into her mind of reaching out, reforming the glass as best as she could and presenting it to Starfire again.

At that thought, a knot formed in her chest.

No, she thought, not going to happen.

Forcing her mind away from the heart that lay just beyond them, Raven encircled her legs around Starfire's waist, and wrestled her body onto it's side. Away from the sight of the decorative box, and the small yet important trinket inside of it. Onto instead the gauzy black curtains that blocked out the bright light of the moon and stars and distant city.

Her eyes slid closed, and all she could feel was Starfire once more.

Her happiness was radiating off of her, mixing with something dark and sinister just beneath the surface. It felt so erotic that Raven couldn't help but moan again.

Their breasts pressed together as they tightened their arms, pulling them closer in. Their heartbeats were frantic, and they loved every second of it.

Starfire whispered more loving words into her ear, and Raven could only kiss her back in response. Hopeful, she tried her own attempt at seductive little nothings, and Starfire ate it up like mustard.

Warmth and touch and love.

Betwixt the fantasies and the flesh.

All of it came rushing back to them that night, and between them something new was kindled. Not in the sound of the screams or the wetness of their shared desires, but something communicated through the supernatural emotions filling the room then coursing through their blood.

"I love you."

The morning came far too early, on harsh bright light that burned and pained. They never wanted to get out of bed, ever, but only stay wrapped in each other's arms, cuddling. Sand still crusted their eyes as they dragged themselves to the main room, their bodies still limp from the intensity of the night.

Everyone seemed particularly drained that morning. Cyborg and Beast Boy dazed into their plates, not really seeing anything and sluggishly raising their forks to their mouths. No one even bothered to make a face when Starfire stuck a straw into her bottle of mustard. Spicy mustard even.

Even a fuming, panicked Nightwing couldn't drag them out of the stupor.

Storming into the main room, he slammed his fist down onto the table, making no one jump. Eyes peered up at him, partly in confusion and partly in annoyance. Curses left his lips, sworn in raspy tones under his breath. His mask was off, as was most of his uniform, replaced instead by loose-fitting casual clothes.

Streaks of capillaries showed on the whites of his eyes, and his hair was messy, his muscles jittery. Raven could feel the headache that was dominating his brain right then and there, and underneath that pounding headache (that was starting to affect her) she sensed an array of emotions that she was far too tired to read.

"Nightwing, what's wrong?" she asked in a mute tone.

Running his fingers through his hair, he looked at each one of them in turn, his wild, fatigued eyes drinking them in.

"All—" He started, then took a breath. Closing his eyes, he pressed his fingers to his temples, rolling his head and stealing some of Cyborg's juice. Swigging it down, he slammed the glass down and said, "All…almost all…of Slade's files…are gone!"

Each of the Titans stared at him in awe, and then exchanged their glances over the table. Like that could somehow answer the question of which of them had deleted the files, if indeed one of them had. Nightwing's eyes were darting around their faces along with the rest of them.

His hands were shaking, and an overbearing sense of worry crept into his being.

"Nightwing," Raven said, pressing a hand to her head, "please stop that."

"What?" he asked her, completely oblivious to the stress his emotions were putting her through. Had he been more awake, and thinking more clearly, he would have realized sooner. "Oh. Right," he mumbled, and tried to calm himself.

"I don't know who, but someone erased almost all of Slade's files. All the hard copies are missing, and the digital files have been tampered with. The only ones left are from years ago, and those aren't going to help any of us now."

Curious gazes were cast around the table once more, and then Nightwing broke down.

"Oh, gods. What if it was me?"

Starfire reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him as guilt overwhelmed him. She rubbed his arm through the black fabric of his sweater, not knowing what else to do. Perhaps her words would make her feel better?

"It is alright," she told him. "Even if you did have, none of us blame you."

He didn't look up at her, didn't even move.

Beast Boy and Cyborg exchanged worried glances. They could read each others thoughts in their eyes, knowing by now what the other was thinking at this point in time. Silent questions, eyebrow movements, a shrug of the shoulders.

"Well, hey, look at the bright side," Beast Boy chimed in. "Now there's a delay in us splitting up."

That was the wrong thing to say. Accusatory eyes all landed on him. He shrunk back down within his seat, his face darkening as blood rushed up at his cheeks. "What? I'm just trying to cheer things up. None of us want to separate do we?"

"Was it you?!" Nightwing yelled. He jumped up from the chair, and it fell back and hit the floor with a loud thud. "Did you erase the files?"

"No!" Beast Boy shouted back at him.

"And how do I know you're telling the truth?" Nightwing looked like he was about ready to bite his head off, but Beast Boy stood his ground.

"Well…I guess you don't."

"Both of you, stop it!" Raven slammed her fists down on the table, unable to take anymore of the stress on her mind. Everyone went silent. "It doesn't matter who did it. They're gone now, so we have to deal with it like so."

She felt Starfire's hand on her arm, trying to comfort her. She mellowed a bit, sighing to clear her head. "Blame won't really help us now, so why does it matter?" Her words sounded reasonable enough, but reason wasn't something that played well upon sleep-wanting minds.

"Well what if the person who took 'em might still have 'em?" Cyborg asked.

Nightwing jumped on the suggestion.

"They could still have them?" The suggestion seemed to have a mixed effect on all of them. But Raven knew, not from her powers but from basic observation, that disappointment was in all of them.

Sitting back down, she spun to meet Starfire's gaze. They both looked disappointed. Raven leaned in close to Starfire, embracing her warmth and comfort once more. No one seemed to notice the two girls leaning upon each other; everyone's eyes were downcast.

A long moment of silence passed.

Finally, Nightwing broke the silence. "Raven's right. It doesn't matter." It doesn't matter about the missing files. No one wanted to find Slade, no one wanted to disband. Relief flooded through the room.

Nightwing went to fix himself breakfast, a large bowl of cereal that he ate at the counter.

Raven could remember years ago, when Starfire fell through the wormhole and travelled through time. When she had returned, the messages she carried about the future were grim; about what would happen if the Titans all disbanded. She felt her heart become clenched as she thought about it. She had always feared being locked up somewhere, her mind having become lost and all her friends missing from her.

It was one of her deepest and darkest fears, to be captured like that. To be so helpless, her mind stripped away from her and not even knowing who she was or what she was. All her days spent in the bright white of a cell, trying desperately to remember.

Never going back to what she was.

As these thoughts coursed through her, her eyes started to burn, and she hugged herself closer to Starfire.

Was that the reason she clung to tightly to her? Why she had become her lover? Parts of her mind said yes, that the reason she loved Starfire so much was that she was her grip on her sanity, the one thing that kept her level within this world. The one thing in this world that she needed more than anything. Starfire had promised that she would never leave her. Even if the Titans disbanded, and everyone went they're separate ways, she would go wherever she went so that she would never be alone. Starfire knew how hard companionship came to Raven, so she would always be her companion.

Raven remembered that she had wept when Starfire had said that, suppressed tears unable to stay trapped behind her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

"So you're not going to search our rooms or anything?" Beast Boy asked, bringing them all back to the present. Nightwing shook his head, no.

Cyborg let out a sigh of relief.

"I don't see the point of it," Nightwing said after a delay. "Slade will show up again, in due time, and when he does his location will be back on the monitors and all that crap."

"Oh perhaps," Starfire said cheerily, "this Slade has turned over a new leaf, and he will never do crime again so we will never have to go after him again and never catch him. And then the Batman will not make up disband because we never captured him and we shall have him on a technicality."

Everyone looked at her.

"Yeah, and maybe I'll conceive your child," Raven quipped.

Turning her head, Starfire looked at her and said, "I am assuming you say this because it is an impossibility."

"Mm-hm," Raven voiced, drinking down the last of her tea and finished her breakfast. "Is that not the case on Tamaran?"

Starfire took a breath, like she was about to answer, but Nightwing cut them all off, calling them away from the table and onto whatever next assignment it was. Raven just hoped that he had stopped deciding that splitting them up for weeks at a time was a good way to spread out investigation.

"Team…" he began.

"Ryuionat," Starfire cursed, seeing all the damages the monitors were reporting.


	6. I Wish Us Never To Part

Clearly the Titans were still needed.

All day long, and even into the night, the Titans were making their rounds, trying to stop the terrible from happening. But of course the terrible always happened, as it was inevitable. Crime of any kind, and they were always there to stop it.

Nightwing had spent many hours arguing their case, and throughout the Tower they could hear his voice becoming more and more insistent, rising loud with rage and anguish. Beast Boy had snuck away from him, not wanting to get right in the middle of a heated argument between two formidable heroes. Cyborg seemed to be avoiding it too, not getting too close to the shouting, but staying just close enough to monitor everything that was being said so he could tell the others later.

Should Nightwing not tell them.

And for all of his yelling and arguing, and even pleading and begging, it had paid off, for it had bought them time.

Perhaps another year or two or three…

Maybe even four or five if they were lucky enough. If Slade didn't show his face and the citizens of Jump City had them in good graces.

Starfire was ecstatic, as always. "Oh, Raven, isn't it exciting!" she proclaimed, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tightly. Raven did have to agree with her, it was exciting that they weren't disbanding after all. Still, she kept rubbing her skin, as though the bullet they had dodged had been real, and had grazed along her skin.

"Good fortune has bestowed us once more!" Starfire said, still hugging her.

Raven leaned forward on the railing, looking out across the small section of ocean to the skyline, aglow in the night sky. She kept trying to smile, but in the end it took Starfire to coax it out of her.

"Oh, Raven! Why are you not overjoyed at the news. We are staying together. All five of us!" She pulled away and put her hands upon Raven's shoulders, looking her squarely in the face and taking the sight of her in. Green eyes peered deep into her's, and Starfire came to see the excitement in them, the happiness past the muted exterior.

"I am happy, Starfire." A small smile graced her face.

With a sigh of happiness, Starfire floated into the air, turning this way and that and extending herself over the Tower. She levitated there, simply enjoying the gift of flight, spinning without a single care in the world. Raven watched her happily, with her own emotions started to stir far too excitedly. An eeriness had crept over her, onto her skin, and she knew her powers were coming to life.

Starfire faced her lover once more.

"Raven, please. Join me," she said, and Raven couldn't have denied her for all she was worth.

Raven's feet left the ground, and she was flying towards Starfire, joining her in her dance across the sky. Starfire kept spinning in circles, and reaching up high into the atmosphere, Raven following close behind, before they both dropped back down dangerously towards the earth, their bodies skimming the surface of the ocean water. Small waves crested and sea water splashed up against them when they flew too close.

Raven reached forward and captured Starfire in her arms, now deciding to levitate instead of fly. She kissed her deeply, putting into the kiss all her love and passion and emotion and thought. She could feel Starfire returning all of this and more, slipping her tongue past Raven's lips and making her barriers crumble into the dust.

Upon breaking the kiss, they found themselves lying down upon the rocks once more, on the edge of their small island.

"I never imagined I could be so happy," Starfire murmured.

She nuzzled into Raven's neck, and brought her hand to her cheek, stroking Raven's smooth skin with her thumb. Raven smiled back at her, for she felt the same happiness when she was with her. She never wanted them to part, not ever in their life. Even if they would not be lovers forever, she wanted to stay friends with her. Be near her, no matter what role she played in this grand scheme of their life.

Even her fears couldn't break her.

Not this time.

Starfire, her lover, her friend, her solace, was with her, and there was nothing that could tear her down. Raven wondered if Starfire knew this, how much power she had over her, how much love she had put into her. Deep down, somewhere past the surface layers of her conscious being, Starfire knew. Raven believed that.

"We may still part, though," Raven said, voicing her thoughts without even knowing it. "Nightwing might have saved us for another couple years, but then after that we might still—"

Starfire put a finger to her lips, quieting her.

"Hush," she said softly. "The future is far away. For now, we are together. For many more years to come."

Raven brushed some of Starfire's hair away from her face, exposing her bright green eyes to her. She tucked the fiery red strands behind her ear, then stroked her hand down the soft locks.

"I have been reading some of your books. And some of your poetry," Starfire told her. Rolling onto her back, she fixed her gaze up to the night sky above them, alight with millions of glittering stars. Raven rolled over in turn, looking up to see where Starfire pointed. She could recognize all of the constellations in the sky, name them all in several different languages.

The empath felt her lover's overwhelming sense of sorrow at gazing at such beauty. Starfire had always loved the nights of Earth, for she said that the stars almost never shone back on Tamaran. For the first week on Earth, she stayed awake every single night, looking up at the night sky for hours on end, unblinking, taking in everything.

Raven remembered that that had been the first time she knew she loved her.

Platonically, all the way back then.

"Much of the poetry you read says that the stars are everlasting. That no matter what happens, no matter how much time has passed, the stars will always be there. Be a constant within the life. But that is not so. They always change."

Starfire turned her head to the side, and Raven looked back at her.

"On my planet, it is a well known fact that the stars are something only temporary. In fact, many of us came to know that much of the stars we see no longer exist." She straightened her head. "Because it takes so long for light to travel through the universe, what you see is the glow that stars had first put out millions of years ago. I know that specifically that star there—" she pointed "—is dead, and has been for the past two thousand years. It no longer exists."

"That doesn't make me feel better," Raven replied.

Before Starfire could say anything more, she rolled over onto her side and embraced Starfire. Starfire welcomed her warmly, letting her body nearly melt together with hers.

"What I am attempting to say is—" Starfire's voice was barely a whisper, "—even if this does not last forever, it is my belief that it will last for many long times. Even if it ends, the after effects will still be there."

Raven sat up suddenly, her head swimming.

"I'm sorry," she said.

She got to her feet, flustered and her hand on her head. Casting a sympathetic look back at Starfire, she escaped back into her solitude, not knowing what else to do. The feelings that were pulsing through her body were becoming too much, and one of them was bound to get her. Raven would prefer it to be her, instead.

Somewhere beyond her sight, a pane of glass shattered, and Raven winced.

"My lover," Starfire said sadly, wrapping her arms around herself to feel less alone. "Complicated is she." But she is worth it, Starfire thought to herself, even as her head dropped lower to her chest and she squeezed herself harder.

"Raven."

"Hello, lover," Starfire said, her voice low and smooth as silk.

She dropped down from out of nowhere, floating down to the ground like a feather, her hair floating around her head like a majestic aura. Raven blushed, unable to control herself around such beauty. Even flustered, Starfire leaned in closer to Raven, letting her hands brush up against her slowly, lightly, almost teasing her.

Raven's heart was hammering in her chest, and Raven felt it nearly burst when Starfire stole her breath as she kissed her swiftly, letting them share the taste of their lips. Pulling back, Starfire cupped Raven's face in her hands, looking at her deeply before kissing her again.

The darkness of the hallway surrounded them, seeming to cloak them and hide them from the harsh reality of the world around them. It felt like they lived within their own dimension, between space and time and reality, a feeling of suspension.

But then…

"The window you had shattered could not be fixed."

Starfire brought her crashing back down, a slap to the face more stinging than anything could ever be. She put her hand to her chest, as though that would somehow help. Like she had fallen from a hundred feet and slammed into the pavement, and she needed to make sure her bones weren't broken.

Starfire put her hand over Raven's.

"Do not worry," Starfire said, in a voice so cheerful that Raven could almost believe she could. "I have your heart in safe keeping. All of us, the Titans, have you in safe keeping."

Raven's eyes started welling with tears, but she brushed them away quickly.

"Lover, come with me," Starfire said, slipping her hands into Raven's and guiding her back into her bedroom. Raven followed, her emotions tearing into the numb horror of what she had done, and the lovestruck woman who was about to be pleasured by the woman she loved.

"I shall ease your distress."

They fell upon the bed together, kissing deeply and letting their hands wander beneath their clothes. They undressed each other, taking their time pulling off the garments, stripping away all the confines that separated them from being skin on skin. Heat rushed through their veins at every brush of their naked skin, and when their breasts finally met together, they could no longer stand it.

Into the bed they went, lost in their private moment once more.

"Wait," Raven said suddenly, moving to the edge of the bed.

Starfire watched with impatient eyes and Raven reached out, grabbing a small container from her nightstand and holding it out. When she lifted the lid, Starfire gasped. Raven held the crystal in front of both of them, letting the dark glass play with their eyes.

"You have fixed it," Starfire said in wonder.

"And it is yours now," Raven said, pressing the crystal into Starfire's palm and pressing her fingers to make a fist. Starfire's eyes closed, and contorted as a tsunami of emotions passed through her. When she finally opened her eyes, she shook her head, no, and pressed the gem back into Raven's palm.

"No. It is yours."

"Star—"

"Please. Do keep this. For me."

Raven fell silent. She looked back down at her heart, encased in the gemstone and meaning so much to both of them. Did Starfire no longer want her heart? Had she truly ruined it all in the end?

"Raven, I still want you. I need you for me to be well."

Starfire's starting to become an empath of her own, Raven thought.

"I will always have you—all of your body parts and metaphysical self—and that together is far more important than only one aspect of you."

Raven clutched the gemstone next to her heart, protecting them both from something she didn't know. Starfire's lips were at her throat again, kissing her tenderly and warmly, and a soft moan escaped her lips.

"So I keep my heart, and you keep me?"

Starfire seemed puzzled by that question, but then nodded, yes.

"I will not lose you," Starfire said to her. "I will always be there when you need me."

"You're getting all mushy on me, Star," Raven said, a reluctant smile gracing her face.

"That is because I wish for you to remember this," said Starfire.

Without another word, she let her lips travel down Raven's body, let her hands touch her all over, and listened as Raven moaned softly and whispered her name, her pleasure fueling her lust and her lust fueling her pleasure.

In the morning, they could worry about the window, and the years ahead of them to come, and the crime that was still rampant throughout the city. But right now, they became lost in the moment, suspended in a small section of time where nothing existed but the two of them. And hopefully, it would always be this way.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The End


End file.
